


All-Kinds-Of-Borgias

by 50251sid



Category: The Borgias, The Borgias (2011)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, F/M, Incest, Sibling Incest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-03
Updated: 2014-03-03
Packaged: 2018-01-14 10:55:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1263676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/50251sid/pseuds/50251sid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A take on the Grimm Brother's Tale "All-Kinds-Of-Fur"</p>
            </blockquote>





	All-Kinds-Of-Borgias

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Il_Valentino](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Il_Valentino/gifts).



Rodrigo Borgia, king of Rome, had a beautiful wife named Vannozza, who had given him two sons and a daughter. The queen was the most beautiful woman in the world, famed for her flawless skin and rich, golden hair, and her beauty had made her vain. Alas, one day she fell gravely ill, and the doctors were unable to cure her. The knowledge that her death was imminent made her angry and bitter. How could life go on for everyone else when hers was coming to a close? How dare the earth continue to spin when her own world was slowing to a stop?

She called the king to her bedside and compelled him to promise her that, after her death, he would only remarry if he could find a bride as beautiful as herself. Upon securing her husband’s vow, the queen closed her eyes and passed from this life.

For a long time, King Rodrigo grieved and refused to even consider taking a new wife. Finally, his advisors convinced him that he must marry again for the good of the realm. Representatives and ambassadors were sent out to all four corners of the world, seeking a woman whose beauty matched that of the late queen, but all to no avail, for none could match the flawlessness of her skin nor the rich gold of her hair.

One day the king cast his eyes upon his daughter, Lucrezia, who was of nearly marriageable age, and realized that she was the very image of her mother. He called his advisors together and announced to them that he would marry his daughter, for she was the only one who could equal his deceased wife in beauty. She alone possessed the flawless skin and rich, golden hair.

The advisors were horrified. “The king has gone mad,” they said. “God would surely forbid such an unnatural pairing. If the king commits this great sin, the entire kingdom will suffer the Lord’s righteous wrath.”

Princess Lucrezia was equally aghast at her father’s intentions. Hoping to play for time, she told him that before she would agree to the marriage, she had to be provided with three gowns, one golden as the sun, one silver as the moon, and one which twinkled like the stars. Furthermore, she desired a cloak which would be made from the pelts of every animal in the kingdom. Each creature must contribute a scrap of its fur to be assembled into the cloak. Believing it to be an impossible task to accomplish, Lucrezia felt that she would have bought enough time for her father to come to his senses and abandon his wicked plan.

But the king accepted the challenge with great relish. He commissioned the most skilled weavers and dressmakers in the realm to construct the three gowns, and dispatched his huntsmen to trap and capture every animal in the entire kingdom and take from each one a piece of its fur to make the cloak that Lucrezia had demanded.

With much fanfare and flourish, Rodrigo presented the dresses and cloak to his daughter in the presence of all his courtiers, and announced that the wedding would be held tomorrow.

That night, alone in her room, Lucrezia knelt in prayer. A plan formulated in her mind. She would run away and throw herself on God’s mercy to shield her from her father’s unnatural lust. She packed a bag with the three dresses from her wedding trousseau and her favorite gold ring with a single large white pearl, put on the cloak of many furs and slipped out of the castle. Once outside, she rubbed soot over her hands and face and set off into the woods. She walked all night through a great dark forest. Just before dawn, exhausted, she crawled inside a hollow tree and fell asleep.

It came to pass that Stefan, the king who owned the woods, had set out that morning with a large party, hunting for wild boar. His dogs came upon the tree where Lucrezia was sleeping and set up a loud din of barking and baying. The king ordered his huntsmen to see what the dogs had found and they observed Lucrezia cowering in fear.

“Your Majesty,” they said, “It is some strange creature, all covered with many kinds of fur.”

The king ordered them to capture it alive and bring it to the palace.

When the huntsmen set hands on Lucrezia, she begged for mercy.

"I am just a poor maiden abandoned by all whom she knows. Please take pity on me.”

Her odd appearance caused the huntsmen amusement and they were moved to help her.

“Well, then, ‘All-Kinds-Of-Fur’, come with us. You can help Cook in the kitchen. You’ll at least have food and shelter there, you furry little creature.”

They set her in a cart and drove her to the king’s palace, where they presented her to the cook. She was set to task doing all the dirty work that nobody else wanted to do, plucking poultry, fetching wood and water, peeling vegetables and sweeping the ashes from the hearth. At night, she slept in a dark cubbyhole under the stairs.

The lot of ‘All-Kinds-Of-Fur’ was miserable indeed!

 

When Princess Lucrezia’s absence was discovered, her father had become frantic and ordered his soldiers to search far and wide to bring her home. Her two brothers, Prince Juan and Prince Cesare mounted their steeds and set off in different directions to find their sister.

 

In the midst of preparations for a great feast, Lucrezia heard rumors that the banquet was being held in honor of a visiting prince from a neighboring kingdom, which was not on friendly terms with Stefan’s realm.   She asked permission from the cook to go upstairs for a little while to look at the festivities. Cook liked little ‘All-Kinds-Of-Fur’, who was always obedient and dutiful, and gave her leave to spend half an hour watching the feasting and dancing.

She went and washed her face and hands and took from her bag her dress that glowed bright as the sun. When she had put on the gown, she went upstairs and found a discarded mask that she put over her face and entered the banquet room. So regal was her bearing that all stepped out of her way, sure that she was a princess.

At the king’s right hand sat the visiting prince. Lucrezia’s heart jumped within her breast; it was her brother Cesare, whose head turned at the commotion her entrance had set off. He stood and made straight for her, taking her hand and drawing her into the dance. When he attempted to speak to her, she lowered her head and looked away shyly. At the end of the dance, she curtsied and rushed away, disappearing below stairs.

She changed out of her gown and returned to the kitchen, intending to sweep up the soot from the fireplace.

“Never mind that,” Cook told her. “I want to go up and see the revelries, too. Make the king’s soup for me, but make sure you don’t let a hair fall into it, or there will be the devil to pay.”

When the cook had gone upstairs, Lucrezia prepared bread soup for the king, and she made it as well as she knew how.

When the evening’s festivities were over, the king had the soup served to him as a bedtime fortification, and it tasted better than any he had ever eaten. He summoned the cook and demanded to know who had prepared it.

Sure that ‘All-Kinds-Of-Fur’ had let a hair fall into the soup and made the king angry, he said, “The little furry creature that helps me in the kitchen made the soup, Your Majesty. Did it not please you?”

Stefan ordered that ‘All-Kinds-Of-Fur’ be brought before him. “Who are you?” he asked her.

“I am only a poor soul who no longer has a home, Sire.”

“What are you doing in my castle?”

“Your Majesty’s huntsmen took pity on me and brought me here so that I might have shelter.”

Convinced that he could learn nothing further from her, the king sent Lucrezia back to the kitchen.

 

The next night, another banquet was given to honor the visiting prince, and again, ‘All-Kinds-Of-Fur’ was given permission to view the dancing. She put on her dress that shone with the radiance of the full moon and hid her face behind the mask. Prince Cesare once more danced with the unknown princess, who vanished when the music ended.

Lucrezia again cooked her soup for the king, who declared he had never had better.

 

On the third night, a feast was held, this time to bid farewell to Prince Cesare, who must resume his search for his sister. This night, Stefan ordered that ‘All-Kinds-Of-Fur’ prepare her special soup for all the guests. She fetched her pearl ring and dropped it into a bowl of the soup and begged Cook that this bowl be served to Prince Cesare.

“You are a witch, little ‘All-Kinds-Of-Fur’”, he said, but because he liked her, he assured her he would see to it personally.

When she was permitted, she washed up and donned her dress that twinkled like stars, then, masked, went upstairs.

When Prince Cesare ate his soup, he found in the bottom of the bowl the pearl ring, which he recognized as his sister’s. He called the cook to him and questioned him as to how the ring came to be in his bowl of soup.

My helper, ‘All-Kinds-Of-Fur’, asked me to see that it was served to you. As she is a good girl, I obliged her.”

“Where is she now?”

“I allowed her to come above stairs for a little while to observe the dancing, Your Highness.”

At that moment, Lucrezia made her entrance, beautiful and graceful in her starry gown, and mysterious in her mask. Cesare wiped the ring clean on his napkin and went to dance with the Princess, stopping by the musicians and asking them to play for a longer time than usual. While dancing with her, Cesare slipped the pearl ring onto Lucrezia’s finger so deftly that she did not realize he had done so. The music went on and on, and Cesare whirled Lucrezia around the ballroom until she became dizzy.

She managed to break away, knowing that she had overstayed her permitted time, and rushed back to the kitchen. She did not have time to change her clothes, so she just took off her mask, threw her fur cloak over her starry dress and rubbed soot from the hearth over her face.

 

Cook called out to her that the king demanded to see her at once. Trembling, she entered the ballroom and curtseyed before Stefan and his guests. Prince Cesare approached her and seized her hand, on which the pearl ring was visible. He pulled the fur cloak from her shoulders, revealing her sumptuous dress that twinkled like stars.

“Even ashes and soot cannot conceal her beauty,” Prince Cesare declared. “Your Majesty, would you hide this lady in the kitchen to keep her for yourself? “

“Indeed not, my prince, for she has been hidden from me as well.”

“Your Majesty, I ask you for her hand in marriage, as a sign of alliance between our two kingdoms.”

“If the lady consents, you will have my blessing.”

Cesare got down on one knee before her. “My Princess, say you will become my wife this very day, for I vow I will marry no other.”

Lucrezia was aghast.

“Cesare,” she whispered, “Do you not know me?”

“Hush, sister. Trust me. Say you will wed me.”

Lucrezia spoke in a clear voice for all to hear.

“If it may bring about peace between our two kingdoms, I will gladly marry Your Highness.”

A wedding ceremony was held without delay. Prince Cesare sent word back to his father that he had both found Princess Lucrezia and made an alliance with Stefan’s realm by marriage. King Rodrigo was overjoyed at both pieces of good news and made plans for celebration. He had his throne placed under an outdoor pavilion where he would greet his son, and ordered that all his subjects turn out in the town square to welcome Prince Cesare and his new wife.

When the royal carriage arrived, the people cheered loudly and waved flags and banners. Prince Cesare descended from the coach and held out his hand to his bride to help her down the steps. The unmistakable golden locks of Princess Lucrezia identified her immediately, and everyone gasped in astonishment.

The prince bowed before his father, the King.

“My greetings, Sire. Allow me to present my bride, Princess Lucrezia.”

Rodrigo stood up, shaking with fury.

“What is the meaning of this? You know she was to be mine!”

“Father, don’t be angry at Cesare. I was afraid. I ran away to escape an unnatural marriage with you.”

“And entered into one with _him_ instead?”

Cesare spoke quietly.

“King Stefan promised an alliance between our two kingdoms, so Lucrezia and I went through with a wedding ceremony to secure that treaty. The association will bring nothing but good for your subjects. Stefan does not know our true relationship, and we thought it best to conceal it.”

“The two of you went behind my back. I will have this marriage annulled at once.”

“If you do, you will negate the alliance. It could even mean war. Would you bring that upon your people because of wounded pride?”

“I made a vow to your mother that prevents me from marrying any but Lucrezia. I am not so old that I don’t need a woman in my life.”

“You are the king, Father. You have legitimate heirs. Take yourself a mistress. Be sensible!”

“Well…there is logic in what you say. But what of you and Lucrezia?”

“We must maintain the marriage to preserve the treaty with Stefan’s kingdom.”

“But what will the people think?”

“Did you care what they thought when you proposed to marry Lucrezia yourself? They will find themselves prosperous with trade and the benefits of peace, and will think not upon the circumstances which brought that about.”

“So be it.”

 

Prince Cesare was named the heir apparent to his father’s throne. During King Rodrigo’s lifetime, Cesare provided wise counsel and proposed many laws famous for their justice and mercy.

Lucrezia continued to wear her cloak of ‘all kinds of fur’ as a memento of her experience. Cesare noted that there was one tiny pelt, the most precious of all, that had not been sewn into the cloak, and Lucrezia happily allowed him to claim it for his very own.


End file.
